Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-04-26
BABY AND HIS THUMB.
A Noteworthy Instance of Infantile Res
olutiOn-A Long Struggle.

olution-A Long Struggle.
From the time that he was six weeks
old his thumb was hardly ever out of his
mouth for an hour. It was only in. that
way he could drop off to sleep. His in
slant response to caress, even when q
mere infant, was to nestle down with his
cheek against the beloved face and slip
his thumb into his mouth. Many times y
day he would seem to fall into reverie In
that position. What single diversion or
passion in the complex of life Of an adult
could be SO Indispensable, SO hard to re-
linquish, as this, the one pastime, the one
employment of baby's idle hours?
Scores of friends have said: "You must
break it up. Tie longer you wait the
harder the FIGHT will be-" Only one
method was ever suggested to us: to put
something SO disgusting or bitter upon the
thumb that it would be uncomfortable to
him, and to persist in this treatment until
the association with ne thumb was only
one of aversion, not Of comfort. This was
actually tried on q little linsWoman of his
who bites her nails; bCt The soft hearted
grandsire applying the aloc3 could not re-
frain from assuring Ter it was mice
and pretending to taste it. So she accepts
it as a treat, licks it OF end Bcgs for more
Now assaf9tida is called for.
The week after Max was two years old
his mother, to prepare him for what
seemed the inevitable treatment, talked
with him long ard earnestly, showing him
the calloused, distGrtal little thumb, 80
helpless to resist his cruel treatment; tel
ling him that he WIS pushing his Gear
little teeth also out Of nl.cc, and assuring
him that 1t was maxim; her very unhappy
So completely were we under the influence
of all the more experienced parents of our
acquaintance that we lad 10 thought of
more than a mo;aentary effect from these
words.
For the next day or two he was unac-
countably irritable, and at night especially
he tossed and frctted for hours instead of
lapsing off atonce into peaceful slumbers
as before. Once when his mother stepped
in to soothe him sh. was greeted with an
angry mamma, go way! Dom want
mamma! Want kick mammar' Pres
emily we realized what struggle was
being fought through. from that day HI
never again in his waking hours put tbs
thumb inside the mouth, nor ever alluded
to it except to ask sympathy for the POO
little SO fmum!'' A week or so later,
when he spent the day with some intimate
friends, Uney were aStOniShed to see him
many times raise his hand with the GEES
ture which had become involuntary, be-
think himself In season, and with an Of
fort lower it again. After few days he
was as affectionate and full of delight in
life as ever, but for weeks he could fall
asleep only after long, wearisome strug-
gle. Several times in this month Janu-
airy, 1887 we have found that long after
falling asleep, say 10 or IL in the evening,
his thumb had slipped in. Tits shows
how strong the habit had grown. And
yet when aroused in the effort to draw it
out he repels with an indignant "No-o-or'
round mouthed and wide eyed, the charge
Of ever once returning to the old habit.
Was not that successful appeal to q
higher motive than disgust Will not the
success Of that first great effort help the
growth of the queen of all virtues, sophro-
SVna-Self cOntr0lS-Rabyhaod